


Our Future

by thisaintmacys



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nice Negan (Walking Dead), Sad Ending, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 02:59:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13848654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisaintmacys/pseuds/thisaintmacys
Summary: When Negan is surrounded and is defiant about giving up his freedom to be Rick's prisoner, Rick tells him what happened to Carl, and everything takes a sudden turn.  One-shot prequel to "What Lies Ahead of Us"; a multi-chapter fanfiction after Carl's death and the events of this story.





	Our Future

**Author's Note:**

> This is following some time after Rick has had time to properly grieve on his own, get his strength back, and listen to Carl's last words of wisdom. This follows what I think may happen on the show? We'll see, I guess. I'm not watching anymore at this point and will only watch the series finale but I wanted to write this and my Carl's Letters series.

"You look like you got somethin' you wanna say to me, Grimes," Negan taunts as he smirks wildly while his men surround him. Guns pointed at Rick, Rick's own group holding their own in the background, ready to fire at any given time - all they need is a signal. One signal and Negan would be no more; just a bad page or two in the history of Rick's life. "Well c'mon, Little Piggy, we ain't got all day!" the jet black haired man taunts some more, adding fuel to the raging fire burning within as Rick raises his colt to point it between the older man's eyes. Negan's men start to cock their guns, bullets loading into chambers with loud clanks as they remain silent.

"It shouldn't have to be this way, Negan!" The former sheriff breathes heavily, loading a bullet into the chamber of his own gun, then he remembers Carl telling him to put the gun away. He can practically hear the faint sound of Carl telling him not to do it as he stands there - hands shaking - and finger barely near the trigger.

When one Savior steps forward to shoot, Negan throws his hands up and halts everyone with a smirk still crossing his lips, as he eyes the other in amusement. "Go on, you prick! Shoot me!" Negan demands, Rick lowers his gun and just then everyone around Negan is shot down, bullets flying hitting every Savior standing by Negan till not a soul is left to help.

Rick puts his gun away, placing it back into his holster as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Do you know what your men did to my boy and why they're all dead?" Rick asks as soon as he and Negan can hear again once the gunfire rang out through the trees. The two are now covered in crimson blood, flecks of pink flesh, and ivory white bone in the aftermath of the bloodbath surrounding them. Negan is in shock, possibly horror, as he realizes he's surrounded now by Rick's group and the others from Hilltop. He's done for. 

"Because of you and this war we created, Carl, the only member of my group that you actually gave a damn about - he was bitten by a walker." Rick explains, his eyes glistening like ice beneath the sun as he starts to tear up. Watching closely, Negan finally shows some humility, and drops to his knees in front of Rick. "Yeah, Negan, he died back there surrounded by war and gunfire because you can't let shit go - you have to be in charge, the alpha male, the boss. It's over now, though. I'm going to see to that." Rick explains, 

Negan looks up as Rick approaches him and the eldest of the two tosses his bat down onto the ground. Rick takes a stern look at Negan.

" _Carl was supposed to be the future of this world, Rick._ "

"Don't tell me what I don't already know; you leather clad son-of-a-bitch!" Rick spat, Negan wiped the saliva from his cheek and nodded, swallowing hard as he thought about the kid he once made spaghetti for.

"I mean it; your kid - he was somethin' else. I don't say it often enough but I know great loss, I do, and I'll admit it when I have to - I'm sorry. I'm sorry it came down to this and you lost your kid. It may not have been directly my fault but you do what needs to be done." Negan spoke softly, confessing as he motions for Rick to grab Lucille to finish him off. "Do it right or not at all."

* * *

 

" **Take that!** " Rick orders, Daryl gladly reaches down to grab the bat to take it from the man, Negan immediately starts to regret whatever is coming to him. "Let's get him cuffed and loaded up into the back of the vehicle; he's going with us." Rick orders, the others listen and Maggie moves forward to push Negan down onto the ground, placing Negan's hands behind his back. He doesn't struggle, he lays there in shock and his own way of feeling guilt.

Michonne helps lift Negan up from the ground and the two share final words. "No one should have to lose a child; not you, not anyone. Ever." Negan calmly admits, stating what appears to be a heartfelt apology but Rick doesn't want to hear it. "Would you listen to me and stop being a stupid prick for a minute of your precious fuckin' time?" Negan asks, Rick stops as he finishes loading Negan into the back of the van and looks at the other man with his hands on his hips. One hip cocked upward. 

"I'm not buying the shit you're sellin'. None of us are!" Rick retorts. 

" **Damn straight**." Daryl chimes in.

"Doesn't matter - my point is that _the kids are our future;_ Carl was one of them, and so is the little girl you have, as well as the other kids around here. They need to be protected, cared for, and not harmed. They don't need to be involved in this; do you know he asked me to kill him so the war could end the other night? He was doing his best to end things but I wouldn't kill him because I saw too much within him. Carl Grimes was a damn good kid and you raised him well but I knew him as the man he could be, too." Negan confesses.

"He was the future, Rick. I'm sorry." 

"Sorry don't cut it, Negan. You killed **Glenn** , _the father of a child_ and you also killed Abe, they were family to us too. It's sad that a man like you never knew family or how to love." Rick explains, feeling no remorse for the man that was now under his protective custody, and going to remain there for a long time as punishment for everything. Including Carl's death even if it wasn't on the murderer's shoulders. 

"I kill one or two from **every group** to show _power_ ; it's a display to show you I'm not fucking around here, Rick."

"Well you won't get to do that anymore, _will you_?"

"Guess not." The now prisoner confirms, while looking out the back window of the van as it speeds off into the forest; away from the remains of the Sanctuary and Alexandria. "You know, I had a family; I had a wife named Lucille and I hand made that barbed wire with some of her ashes, she's all over that bat. She died from cancer before the outbreak and I used to work as a sports team coach for a local high school back home. I'm not all bad, Rick, I just lost my ability to feel and empathize because my world has been gone for a long time and nothing can fill that void. Nothing." Negan spoke, swallowing hard as he fought back his own tears for once as Michonne and Maggie exchanged glances across from Negan. 

Daryl narrowed his eyes and glared in response to the words being said; he didn't want to buy into the man's sob story. He knew it would end in some stupid plea about being let go. At least, that's what he wanted to think. "Ever have kids of your own?" the archer questions; Negan shook his head in response.

"The cancer took that ability from my wife; chemo makes it difficult to conceive and I'm glad we never had one now. I wouldn't be where I am but I'm not sure how I would have made it, either, with a young kid on my hip." Negan confessed, though the thought was nice after all. Michonne moved to the front seat and took Rick's hand into her own.

"I wanted the field trips, little league games, the cheer practice, whatever came with it - even the restless nights. All of it but I never got it and I'm not the best person to be in charge of a family, anyway." Negan concludes, falling to silence as he tries to figure out where they're heading, which he assumes is either going to be sudden death for him after he gets out of the van or imprisonment.

" _I can't stand to listen anymore_." She admits quietly as she looks into the rear view mirror to keep guard but block out the conversation topic.

"What're you gonna do to me, Rick?" Negan asks, curiosity getting the best of him. "No pansy ass shit, c'mon. Torture me a little bit." He adds on, Daryl gets less than half an inch from his face as he glares right into Negan's eyes.

" **Don't fuckin' try us**. Don't give me any more ideas than I already have in mind, _you piece of shit_!" Daryl exclaims angrily through gritted teeth; his eyes show that he's reflecting on time spent with Negan at the Sanctuary before it was destroyed. "I'm mostly in charge of the punishment you're getting; if it ain't me - it's 'chonne, up there." Daryl continues, his cheeks flushing pink as anger seeps through his veins. 

"You'll get the treatment you so rightfully deserve." Maggie speaks up for the first time; imagining him living in absolute hell as he's dethroned for the first time. He's no longer a king but a mere peasant and prisoner in their eyes. "Especially for mercilessly killing my husband as I watched after finding out I'm pregnant." 

"I didn't know."

"I don't care - you could have killed another child but luckily the baby is doing just fine; he's growing more and more every day. Kicking, too, a lot and it seems like he's going to be a fighter like me and his father." Maggie concludes, dropping the subject at hand. 

* * *

 

After arriving at their new location, Negan is lead to the chambers where he will be held behind bars, keeping him from the rest of the world. To anyone else, it would remind someone of an old Wild West jail cell; with a cot to sleep on, a bucket for a toilet, a roll of toilet paper, a pillow, and iron bars surrounding just enough for him to move about freely without having too much room. "You'll be held right here until you die or until you become one of us," Maggie states as she shoves Negan into the cell before shutting the iron barred door behind him. 

As the group left him in the basement of the new house deep within the suburban area that had been discovered not long before his capture, Negan wondered how his life would play out, but he knew he wasn't looking forward to the days ahead. The cold, lonely days ahead in that basement with little to no food, some water, and nothing but a bucket to shit in. Giving him exactly, by all means, what he deserved with his life still intact. 


End file.
